these are all things that can unite us. but when you look at the come position of the electorate, clearly we are losing important segments of that electorate and what we have to do is to appeal to those people not as identity groups but understanding that if you can get the identity issue out of the way then you can appeal on the broader issues that all americans share concerns for. interior you prepared to participate in that dialogue within your party. >> absolutely. i started that participation at the convention. i said in that speech that i thought, for instance, immigration was a key to not just the demographics of the election but to who we are as americans. that's the argument we ought to be making. >> will that be the spirit of the negotiations taking place in washington over the fiscal crisis? >> i hope so because we have to get the fiscal crisis behind us. we got to stop taking on debt that we cannot payback and that we'll leave for our children. these are critically important issues and it's important because the